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I don’t think I’ve ever approached me more passionately at gas stations. When I installed the nozzle on the side of the Ford Maverick in 2022, there were at least three passers-by hovering. Their wide-eyed questions included, "Is this a new hybrid car?" "What is your mileage?" "Yes. Wheel drive?"
"This is a new hybrid car," I said, but had to admit awkwardly that I didn't know MPG yet because I was filling the tank quickly so I could reset the trip odometer and record how it was done The next week. If they linger after I have completed 311.1 miles of driving, I would say, "Impressive". The 7.91 gallons I added at the time of completion calculated to be 39.3 mpg, which undermines the truck’s combined EPA rating of 37 mpg.
It got better. City driving is where hybrids really shine. In fact, Maverick’s ratings are broken down into 42 mpg cities and 33 mpg highways. Any EPA comprehensive rating is a weighted average, assuming that 55% of the mileage will be driven in the city and 45% will be driven on the highway, so I recorded an average of 39.3 miles per gallon, where the driving mix includes exactly 80% of the Driving on the highway, this surprised me a lot. Miles per hour.
What does this have to do with floating deep diving? More than you think. To answer the all-wheel drive question of the passerby, no, this Maverick hybrid does not have it. In fact, every hybrid car is front-wheel drive, which is not all. Ford not only omits the rear drive axle and differential of the hybrid car, it also has a completely different rear suspension layout (and vice versa) from the all-wheel drive model with only a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
My CyberOrange machine loaded four or five miles of it. I helped a friend to dismantle a trade show booth and drag about 400 to 450 pounds back to his store, where he asked me to take these photos. The truck shouldered this burden brilliantly, with no signs of sagging. When it was empty, its smooth and quiet absorption of Michigan-level frost left a deep impression on me, too. Considering the price point and fuel efficiency of this machine, they have fine-tuned this suspension.
There is nothing groundbreaking ahead. This is a common pillar setup that looks very similar to the foundation of the Ford Bronco Sport we saw a few months ago. Like the Bronco Sport, most of the hybrid system (green arrow) installed laterally is located slightly forward of the front axle.
This joint (green) is one of several positions where the suspension subframe is bolted to the integrated body. The aluminum lower wishbone does not need an arrow because it protrudes in the background, but the compactness of the steel knuckle (red) is easily overlooked because it blends into the background.
The lower control arm adopts an inverted L-shaped design, so named because when the lateral turning load (green) is directly fed to the chassis through its hard front bushing, the longitudinal component of the harsh driving input will turn through 90 degrees and change Large-capacity rear (red) bushing. You might hear engineers mention the "riding bushing" in a given suspension, which is the one behind in a reverse L-arm strut layout like this one.
Almost all the lateral front drive units I know put most of the engine and transmission assembly in front of the front axle, which means that the steering rack (green) can only be installed behind it and behind the steering axle with the so-called " Turn back to the "direction."
The stabilizer bar (green) also straddles the Maverick behind the engine, which is why we see its connecting rod bolted to the welded joint at the rear of the strut shell. This type of pillar installation is called direct installation, because the stabilizer link moves up and down in a locked step, and the wheel reaches a 1:1 movement ratio.
The main driver of hybrid fuel efficiency, especially in cities, comes down to the magnetic "regenerative braking" through the electric motor/generator buried in the hybrid transmission housing. The ability to recover braking energy in this way and convert it into battery power is essentially the working principle of hybrid vehicles. This action is still triggered by the brake pedal, but the computer will determine whether magnetic regenerative braking or traditional friction braking is sufficient for your braking input, and then take corresponding measures.
Therefore, the size of this single-piston caliper and ventilated rotor is as if they are the only braking system, but they will not be used often unless you have the habit of stopping and applying the brakes. The best way to improve MPG in hybrid vehicles is to look to the future, predict deceleration and gradually brake in order to recover as much braking energy as possible. In fact, the dashboard of the Maverick Hybrid has a meter that will pop up to provide you with instant feedback and help you understand where the threshold is. Pay close attention, not only will you increase your MPG, you may also drive 100,000 miles from these brake pads.
Except for its simplicity, this overall view does not reveal much information about the rear suspension of the Maverick hybrid.
Now we can recognize it as a twist-beam rear suspension, which is a simple and inexpensive type of semi-independent suspension built around a vehicle span (red) that extends from below the vehicle to the other side. Why is it semi-independent? The left and right wheels are firmly fixed at both ends of the same large U-shaped steel structure, but the structure is wide enough to twist in the middle and allow some independent movement.
The torsion beam structure is bolted to the chassis and pivots around a point (green) on each side. The only thing that prevents the spring from falling off when it sags completely is the internal stop block built into the rear shock absorber (white).
This is a better looking ratio of the beam (green) across the truck. Imagine a motorcycle swing arm that is more than 4 feet wide, with wheels on the outside of each leg, instead of fixing a wheel in the middle. Or think of it as a huge stabilizer bar with wheels on both ends-this is its basic function.
The torsional stiffness of the torsion beam itself is adjusted and optimized during the development process by installing a supplementary stabilizer bar (green), which is plugged in the open cross section of the beam.
The auxiliary stabilizer bar (green) is welded in place. Since the wheel is bolted to the flange welded to the beam end, the motion ratio of the roll stiffness can only be 1:1. The twist beam is a big piece after all.
As for the motion ratio of the spring, the spring pocket looks slightly higher than the axle of the wheel itself, so we call it 0.9 to 1. At the same time, the shock absorber is bolted behind the wheel bearing and hub, so on a given bump, it actually moves more than the wheel, and the movement ratio appears to be 1.2 to 1.
The problem with torsion beam suspensions is that when the outer rear suspension is compressed and subjected to a lateral load, they will produce rear toe camber-which is a bad thing for the outer rear tires in big corners. The situation is complicated because you need a hard liner to minimize toe changes in this situation, but a soft liner is needed to absorb the harshness of riding. One way to solve this problem is to tilt the pivot bushing bag (green) outwards and forwards.
Here, the inner surface of the liner (green) rests against the outwardly inclined liner bag, forming a slope that provides lateral and forward support for the installation point when it is subjected to turning forces. But the opposite side (red) is more open, so the bushing can hit back and absorb the strong backward component of the road impact. It's not perfect, but it helps.
Nonetheless, this conflicting characteristic defines the limitations of torsion beam suspension, which is why you won't see it on anything bigger and heavier than Maverick. But they are lightweight, inexpensive, space-saving and easy to install on the assembly line, which is why they are used in low-cost front-wheel drive Maverick hybrid vehicles.
This view allows you to understand all the various brackets welded to the twist beam from the inside, and we can see the flange (green) to which the calipers and wheel bearings are bolted.
The upper end of the shock absorber is bolted to the integrated bed structure from the wheel well, which is why the inner surface of the bed does not require an inspection panel. The rear suspension bumper is located in the black plastic suitcase we see here.
The Maverick hybrid is light enough and strong brake discs can do the job. Its single-piston sliding caliper has an electric parking brake actuator (green) hanging behind it. At the same time, the large piece of metal (red) does not have any suspension function. This is a traction tie-down point.
Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT uses 225/65R17 Continental ProContact TX tires mounted on 17 x 7-inch aluminum alloy wheels. The combination weighs 49 pounds.
As for the all-wheel drive Maverick, it is not a hybrid. Its rear suspension should be very similar to the multi-link we see under the Bronco Sport, at least conceptually. As for the Maverick hybrid suspension we just saw, considering its ultra-low base price, its simplicity is not surprising at all. But what you don’t see here is that all of this has been carefully adjusted. It may be simple, but it works.
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